The Supreme Court has resumed the Memo scandal case hearing today (Monday) meanwhile the court is likely to nominate a fresh commission to investigate the scandal, News reported.

A nine-member bench of the apex court is headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The bench will hear the 11 different petitions filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and others regarding the matter.

All the respondents except President Asif Ali Zardari have submitted their replies on the memogate.

The court will examine the respondents’ statements including federal government, the army chief, ISI director general, Husain Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz.

The bench will consider statement of former US national security adviser General (retd) James Jones, who delivered the alleged memo to the then chief of US army chief Admiral Mike Mullen. He said in his statement that the memo was not credible and that Haqqani had nothing to do with it.

The News print edition story adds:
The Supreme Court is likely to nominate afresh a commission to investigate the memogate scandal when it resumes hearing on it today.

Meanwhile, former Ambassador Husain Haqqani’s lawyer Asma Jehangir, who has maintained a complete silence on the case since her selection as his attorney, will speak before the nine-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for the first time.

Legal circles say the court may appoint a former superior court judge as head of the one-man commission to look into the appalling memo to determine the involvement of Haqqani or anybody else behind him.

It will direct the government to provide him technical assistance for forensic analysis of the material. On Dec 1, when the apex court had taken up nine identical petitions including the most important one filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif, it had nominated former senior police officer Tariq Khosa as the commission.

But he declined to accept the assignment as he could not withstand the scandalous pressure that the government had exerted on him through Babar Awan, who mercilessly slammed the otherwise reputed retired bureaucrat.

The court had given Khosa three weeks to conclude the investigation. However, this period would start only when the new commission would be named. It would also become clear in Monday’s proceedings whom Attorney General Maulvi Anwaarul Haq would represent. Legal experts say it is impossible for him to speak for the government and the chiefs of the army and ISI at the same time because the federation and security establishment clearly hold divergent views.

The attorney general has already made it known that he doesn’t know whom he would represent but said he would act on instructions, obviously from the government, meaning the prime minister.

It is not yet clear whether or not the government would bring in its chief legal mind and President Zardari’s confidant Babar Awan to defend it in this case because he has always been appointed for all the major cases.